MASON CITY – A long-time volunteer known for saving the historic Band Shell through countless hours of work and fundraising claims that Mason City Mayor Eric Bookmeyer has tried to bully her away from making public announcements about progress on the project.
According to Ms. Easley – who requested an interview on Tuesday, July 16th with NorthIowaToday.com on the matter – Eric Bookmeyer told her that she could only speak about the Band Shell four times per year.
“I probably talked too much (before),” Ms. Easley told NIT. “But it got the job done.”
Ms. Easley was once a regular speaker at City Council meetings, taking the podium nearly every week to give updates on her Band Shell project.
The Band Shell is nearly fully restored at this time, but Ms. Easley continues to raise funds and pursue needed upgrades and fixes to the structure, like security cameras to ward off vandals, remodeled bathrooms and handicapped-accessible ramps.
“When Roger (Bang) was mayor, he never limited me, and we raised thousands of dollars from really good people to save the Band Shell,” she said. “We have movies coming up to be played in the park at the Band Shell. How can I tell people when the mayor won’t put me on the agenda? I was supposed to be on tonight (Tuesday, July 16th), but I got a call this morning (from City Hall) saying they weren’t able to put me on. I was told they could get me on sometime in August. That’s too late.”
But Bookmeyer wasn’t finished, Ms. Easley said.
“Then the mayor told me that I wasn’t allowed to make announcements about who contributed financially or made contributions to the Band Shell project,” she said. “He said that he was going to make those announcements.”
Later that evening on July 16th, after her interview with NIT, at a city council meeting, Ms. Easley told Mayor Eric Bookmeyer that he is a “snake in the grass.”
Bookmeyer made news in 2010 when after being sworn in as mayor, he enacted strict time limits on public speaking by citizens at city council meetings, and then conducted an all-out assault on citizen communication with government by abolishing the public forum, where citizens could directly address the mayor and council on any topic they chose, during the televised portion of the meeting. After intense public pressure, Bookmeyer was forced to bring back the public forum, but citizens could only make comments on agenda items.
Ms. Easley asked that NIT announce that there will be movies played in East Park at the Band Shell beginning July 20th and continuing on July 27th, August 3rd, August 10th and August 17th. The movies begin playing at dusk.
Watch video interview, conducted July 16th, 2013:
66 thoughts on “Bookmeyer bullies 82-year old Janice Easley; she won’t stand for it (VIDEO INTERVIEW)”
Bookmeyer has to stay in office long enough to appoint Logan Wernet police chief.
He who was most responsible for federal search warrants being suppressed as he is not a credible witness. I believe Wernet is one of the least respected officers in the MCPD and it would be a shame if he is named as chief. What credibility the MCPD has will be lost.
There has to be a movement to get rid of Bookmeyer!!!
Most of the people who bitch don’t bother to vote or are not even registered. This time that has be to remedied!!!!
There appears to be about 22 people who must think he is wonderful, to put their names on the Exploratory Committee… I spoke with one of them this week and he had not heard any of the negative publicity about the Mayor. And, had the audacity to tell me that he was an excellent Mayor and will be supporting him again in this election. I shared couple of facts and it did not phase this person. Even thought being drunk half the time was not a problem.
So, I think that this group has about the same moral capacity as Bookmeyer and don’t see anything wrong with his behavior, and destructive governance.
It will be an uphill battle for anyone who runs against him and to be sure, he and his machine- will pull out all the stops and get the dirt and will not be afraid to use it on whoever dares to challenge him.
This will get ugly, but, he has to be stopped–for all of us. For the Janices’ and the people who are working their butts off to pay taxes and thus his salary. For, every city employee who has been demeaned by this vulgar bully. For the people at Fantastic Sam’s who had to witness and were the brunt of his obscene outburst about needing to cut in line, bcuz he was busy, screaming ;you know who I am??? I am the f——g Mayor!! With his little son with him. For his children– God help them!!! For Charlie Brown Daycare– who have witnessed many bully and disgusting things by this despicable man!!!
I know some of the folks on the list and they are just like him. So, you cannot change that. But, some of the decent people there, need to back away and publicly withdraw their support!!! Like that will happen… It is a damn shame people don’t have much integrity anymore– if you are in business or politics!!
IF ANYONE ON THIS BLOG SITE– IS INTERESTED IN WORKING TO GET THIS ASSHOLE OUT OF OFFICE— JUST REPLY TO MY POST— THEN WE CAN FIGURE A WAY TO GET IT STARTED..
LET’S GIVE THE POWER BACK TO THE PEOPL!!!! IT IS TIME!!!
I
TYPO– PEOPLE!!!!
This lady, a private citizen, took the time and effort into signal handly restoring one of Mason City’s landmarks with the help of volunteering and generous citizen donations why would NOT the city council promote this???? She did this for a he citizens, families, and children….not her self!!! BUT by all means she deserves recognition for her efforts and accomplishments!!! GOD BLESS HER, for she thought of others and bettering this community for the citizens, family and children…unlike the council who think only of their pockets and a select few that think they derserve more then most of us “other” citizens! !! Thanks so much city council for spending valuable tax payers money on those worthless statues few care to see, instead we the citizens would have wanted to see it go to good use, like the bandshell project! !! We need to get rid of EVERYONE on the council, its tainted, ignorant, and crooked…they are not putting the citizens and city’s best intrest forward. Is there a way if we get enough signatures to make them step down? Is there something we can do? Is there a way to repott them and to whom, all of their practices need to investigated. GET BOOKMEYER OUT PF THERE!!! That would be step one! Matt you need to run, make them accountable, scrutinize their illegal doings. One by one replace them with good, honest people! !!
Fedup step and run then if you want to do something. You won’t though because either you couldn’t handle it and all you will do is complain. There are doers and there are complainers. The problem with most complainers is that they blame everyone else and they don’t do much to help or find a solution. Hence that is why Bookmeyer will probably win another election.
Lol last time I knew telling it the way it is does not constitute as complaining. You sound like one of those a..holes on the council or one of their croonies…….they are always trying to discredit anyone who speaks out against them. Keep trying…little by little they are being exposed for the crooked arrogant breed they are….. just read “steve’s” posts ….thinking he is better then most common folk…lol he’s to dumb and arrogant to even realize HE has exposed himsrlf for the true butt he is. Keep up the good work Matt and they will eventually take themselves down.
Hey just because I am a college graduate, have a job, and don’t stab people or sell drugs doesn’t mean I’m better than the common folks
@Fed Up-haven’t you figured out who Steve is yet. I think it is Steve Palmer who is our mayors pet Butt buddy on the H.R. Commission. He is so far up the mayors butt it’s funny he doesn’t suffocate.
Although I have no person here that I particularly agree with concerning the confrontation, I have figured out that Ms.Easley did speak at the listening post. What I find interesting is that, for the most part, what happens at the listening post, stays at the listening post. Rarely do I read what happened at it on NIT, and NEVER does the Globe cover it. I would think the listening post comments should be posted just like the minutes of the council meeting are posted. And, if the council has a reaction to the comments at the listening post, those should also be published. And the Globe which calls itself an unbiased newspaper (ha ha), should be covering that aspect of the council meeting.
Comments need to be limited to 5 minutes, otherwise meetings are not productive. If she can’t get her message out quarterly in 5 minutes, then she needs to learn to be succinct.
Janice is a ***** I don’t like drunkmeyer either, but janice will not shut up, She Called me a Fat A** Once, But yes Matt Run for the fourth ward.. You got my Vote 🙂
While i appreciate the work Janice has put in over the years she does have a tendency to say rude and hurtfull things. She was also impossible to please when it came to caring for her husband in the nursing home. No matter what you did it was never good enough for her. I also don’t have a problem with the limit of 5 minutes in the public forum. Some people, including Janice would get up there and never shut up.
I really don’t get this. The first time Janice mentioned she wanted to speak was the Monday before the Tuesday council meeting? In order to be on the agenda for the next Tuesday council meeting, the item you want to talk about has to be in by noon on the Thursday before. Janice should know this. The next time she was left out was because of a Diana Black screw up.Why is she not the bad guy? Oh right the Mayor told her to not put Janice on the agenda.I personally think Janice,who is very well meaning, didn’t stay on top of this and now is blaming the Mayor. Of course Matt is taking this and running or should I say sprinting with the “story”.
No, on July 1, Janice asked to speak at the meeting on July 2. It was too late to add her to the agenda so the Mayor told her she’d be on the agenda for the July 16 meeting. Either the Mayor forgot to tell Diana to put her on the agenda or he told Diana and she forgot. Everyone realized on the morning of the 16 th that Janice had not been put on the agenda. The call Janice got from Diana was that Diana forgot to put her on the agenda. The agenda has to be set 24 hours in advance so it was too late to add Janice.
@Anonymous-that may be true but it is hard to understand why they couldn’t make 5 minutes available in the CITIZEN Comment part of the meeting. I though anyone who wanted to could comment during that time. The mayor makes up rules just to suit himself. I would be willing to bet she was told to forget to put Janice on the agenda.
They did. Janice spoke for 15 minutes.
Sorry, hit the Post button too soon. Janice did speak at the listening post that occurs after the meeting. She was very upset and spoke for 15 minutes. No one tried to stop her. Her comments weren’t just confined to her opinion about the Mayor or the band shell. She hit on quite a few topics. At several points she was in tears. Unfortunately for Janice, this part of the meeting is not televised. She wanted to get the word out about the movies at the Band Shell which was why she wanted to speak at the start of the meeting. As far as her being limited to speaking quarterly, other organizations are also limited to speaking quarterly including the North Iowa Corridor, Main Street Mason City and Visit Mason City.
@Anonymous-do you think it would have hurt to give her 5 minutes to get her message out? It was a community service, not personal.
LVS, Iowa law is very specific. Agendas need to be posted at least 24 hours in advance. The public has a right to know what is happening at the meetings so that they can have input into the work the Council does. Adding Janet to the agenda at the last minute would have violated the law and would have prevented anyone who wanted to come and speak about the agenda from knowing in it was being discussed and attending the meeting. Would it have hurt to put her on the agenda? Probably not, although it would have violated the law. What if they started adding major spending initiatives or contreversial ordinance amendments at the last minute. That is a problem. I don’t like a lot of what Bookmeyer has done, but in this case, toeing a very clear line and sticking to the 24 hour notice requirement serves the public well. It ensure that the Council isn’t sneaking things on to the agenda without the appropriate notice to the public.
Seriously? This is a story? Each & everyone who wants to talk at length at Council Meetings should be turned loose? NI Today is so concerned about reporting how ‘unjust’ this lady is treated? Or are they more concerned about just bashing Bookmeyer and the Council Members again? Trying to make them look bad that they’re picking on little elderly ladies! Seriously? If you were so concerned about giving Mrs Easley a voice, helping her spread the news of her movies scheduled…where is the schedule? Why have you not given her ‘message’ a forum? Her ‘concern’ is getting her agenda/scheduled movies out to the public?? Talk about using a little elderly lady. You don’t seem to care about her or her agenda, you seem committed to attacking the Council Members….AGAIN…Unbiased journalism?? I think not!
I really take issue with your remarks. Read the story carefully. Ms. Easley contacted NIT. Not the other way around. She is genuinely hurt and offended by the mayor’s actions. She has a right to speak her piece here at NIT just as anyone does. The mayor is welcome to contact NIT to tell his side of the story, as well. Furthermore, to say that I somehow do not care about Ms. Easley or her Band Shell project is callous, sad, and ignorant. Reveal yourself and let’s look at your true motivations for saying this. Lastly, the schedule for the summer movies at the bandshell is quite obviously included in the story. Please, work on your 4th grade reading comprehension skills a little harder and maybe this story won’t go over your head.
This matt guy is ridiculous because this is his blog and he gets upset whenever someone has a different view from him. There are two sides to this story but bookmeyer isn’ t going to waste his time talkin gto a blog that nobody reads. This is his opinion and he can voice it as much as possible but this isnt the globe gazzette so don’t believe too much of what is said on this guys slanted blog
steve is right, Markwart is a scrawny punk hiding behind a keyboard. no guts whatsoevr, no class, and not very smart at all. and this site is terrible. no one at all ever reads it.
KIMT stands for kids in media training. Matt isn’t hiding from anyone. New media killed the old media star…
I have zero respect for KIMT as a news/media outlet, although there are a couple of good people working there.
Isn’t is strange that these people who claim no one read N.I.T. are constantly looking at and commenting on N.I.T. Do you suppose they are really friends and family of the council members and mayor?
LOL!!! Seriously? Your commenting that this site is so awful and no one reads it??? Tons do and Matt allows for the public to be involved with their opinions. A coward? So far as I see he is the ONLY news outlet that posts any and all news, good or bad!!!!! It seems he is the ONLY news source willing to stick his neck out and UNCOVER or expose the bad…not cover it up!!! And don’t kid yourself he’s doing a good job at it cause even Bookmeyer reads this, obviously along with you….beings you commented on it. Your comment is hypocritical! !! At best! Most of us don’t care if it’s biased or unbiased at all, he gets pertinent news out that others cover up!!!!
Yes Steve, nobody ever reads this. If that is the case, why did you post a comment? You are a drive by that has no clue. You are a coward Steve, you have no lower unit Steve. There is no excuse for what you said about Janice below, you are not informed.
Hey Matt, you think this blogger is Solberg? She has to be sweating by now after hearing you’re thinking about a run in the fourth ward.
What are you talking about? She sweats all time. In all seriousness, I am leaning towards “no” on a run for Mayor or Fourth Ward or At-Large, but like I told Alex Kuhn and Travis Hickey Tuesday night after they asked me about it, the election papers are on my desk in my office.
Please Matt run. I would love to really see how “popular ” you are amongst the voters. Also bring Peter out from behind his computer screen with you.
@Matt-As much as I would like to see you or someone like you on the council I really think with the current mayor and council you would just end up frustrated because you couldn’t accomplish anything you wanted. Obviously,it is your decision and I would support it either way.
Lvs tell me more about matt and why he would be a good candidate. Does he have a job or is his blog all he has. What ideas would he bring to the council except his ability to complain. The people that run usually are known by the community and I have no clue who this matt marquardt is.
@Steve-well, maybe you should pay more attention to what is going on in your city instead of spending all you time at the country club. Matt is a small business owner who is also the publisher of a on line News Source that tells the truth about what is happening in the city. Now I know that is probably a strange concept for someone who hangs out with the mayor and our council, but, there really are people in the city who tell the truth. You just don’t seem to know any. Matt would be a excellent council member as he really cares about the people instead of the “special” few that you, the mayor and council care about. I sure hope that answers your question.
What is the small business
@Steve-Just what do you call N.I.T. if not a small business. He works at gathering the news, sells advertising, and pays his taxes. He even has some people working with him. I call that a business just like the GLOB or any other media outlet. Just because you don’t like him or N.I.T. doesn’t mean he is not running a business. It just means he is doing something right. I see you continue to post on here even though you don’t like the owner.
No it is not the news but whatever. He just got many of the losers and druggies in mason city to pay to read his stories and advertise their crappy businesses. If he doesn’t care for the top people in this toen then he must be for the rest of the criminals and drug dealers.
@Steve-yes he sure did get a few losers. You are on here are you not?
Great joke well you are on here too
@Steve-someone has to keep you dopers and criminals honest and I guess that is me. Besides, I am not the one bitching about the site. It is you who doesn’t like it and who thinks he is to good for us common folks. Must be hard to breath when you are so far above the rest of the world. If you dislike Matt so much why don’t you tell him so to his face instead of using a post with only a first name that may or may not be yours. You seem to be typical of most cowards who show up on here for awhile and then disappear.
Lvs is probably matt as well
@Steve-and you are a Chicken SH## who is afraid to confront Matt so you use this format so you don’t have to look him in the eye. I am not Matt and he is not me but you are a coward.
@steve and what job does bookmeyer have except for beer drinking
I like when lvs asks if Matt has a job. Bummeyer doesn’t have a job. He lives off his wife’s salary. The double standard, Weaver was a bum for doing it but ol Booky the “chamber” maid its just fine.
Interesting point Amused. Since Bookmeyer screwed up Janice’s chance to talk about the movies at the podium, why didn’t he announce the movies during the meeting when he announces other events happening in the Community?
Just my opinion… and I understand it is done to create sensationalism:
I think using the word “BULLIES” to describe anything that you think has gone on here between Mayor Bookmeyer and Ms. Easley is a serious injustice to anybody whom has been or is being bullied.
HUH?
Gosh, you really had to work hard on that didn’t you? Just like Janice said, “I’m not buying it.”
GO JANICE!!!
The answer to all these questions is that Bookmeyer is a small nothing of a human being who hides behind his wife’s profession and only feels big when he is in the company of his country club companions who inflate his fat little ego so they can get what they want. Guess that means I wont be invited to share a beer with his majesty.
Bookie u are a public servant and should be held accountable for your rude actions. The position of part-time mayor does not give you any right to tell people when and how often they can speak this is just wrong.
So help me understand this. Bookmeyer won’t let Janice announce financial contributions. What is behind his reasoning here. Why would he do that?
I agree that announcing the movies program should be put on the agenda. I don’t however agree that the financial contributers list needs to be taking up the city meeting time. Bookmeyer and Janice want to be the hero. Talk about the event and if it really was for the kids it shouldn’t matter who talks about it at the meeting. People today just want recognition to be a show off.
@Steve,
Your comment is bullshit and beyond reproach. If it were not for Janice, the band shell would have been torn down and gone by now. She alone saved the band shell. You obviously are ignorant about all she has done. She deserves to be on the podium any time she wants to anounce a new contribution she has raised as well as the movies that she found funding for. You Steve are an ignorant bafoon and frankly I dispise people like you. The mayor does not deserve to make any announcements on this matter. Go back under your rock you coward Steve.
Sweet bro
I don’t understand why activities in Mason City would not be highlighted. Kids are home for the summer, people are traveling here; lets show them there are things to do in our town with your family. that is the biggest complaint I hear. We need to highlight these activities and city council meetings are a great forum to acknowledge all the work that goes into these projects. The fact that our Mayor is not letting a citizen, who volunteers her time, have that forum to educate the public of various activities is absolutely unfair. She is not asking for recognition, just simply that a historic part of Mason City could be utilized in a manor that promotes family time. I am happy there are people out there like Ms. Easley putting her time and effort into these projects. Thank you Matt for letting her speak.
It just shows what a control freak our mayor is. This lady has done a lot for our city over the years and deserves some respect. Especially from a elected official. I would think some on the council would speak up and say something about this. As I recall the mayor doesn’t even get a vote. So tell him to shut up and let the citizens speak.
Council sat there on their hands Tuesday night. Janet Solberg had a big smile on her face while Ms. Easley spoke about being bullied by Bookmeyer. I guess she thought this matter is funny or humorous. Really a sad, despicable example of representation in my ward.
@Matt-Solberg is so stupid she doesn’t have enough sense to come in out of the rain. Kuhn on the other hand has other ambitions and I thought he might just speak up with some kind of support. Turncoat doesn’t have enough class but I thought Lee did. Guess I was wrong. (First time this year).
Lee was not at the meeting.
It was a condescending disgusting way to treat a citizen. I’m guessing Bookmeyer limited her reports to quarterly because she tended to talk too long. If that’s the case, why not limit citizen comments to 5 or 10 minutes like normal cities? Why single out one woman? He really does need a good ass kicking.
Matt run for council in the 4th ward. What do yousay?
Of course he double crossed her as he was the same one calling on all of us to engage in snitching.
I think Trout should run for Mayor. then Erick would have to bow down to him instead….
Mr. Trout wouldn’t run for mayor because he wouldn’t make the big bucks and be included with his country club pals! chicken, egg…
@Jim,I understand your point, but if Trout ran for Mayor, which he won’t. Eric would not be around to bow to Trout. Eric would be gone and that would be a good thing but it is not going to happen that way.